- The world’s first vector signal generator featuring an integrated reflectometer provides precise signal output.
- Its compact 2U design, capable of supporting up to four signal channels, conserves as much as 75% of rack space.
Keysight Technologies, Inc. unveils a compact vector signal generator (VSG) N5186A MXG with four channels, enabling signal generation up to 8.5 GHz and providing a 960 MHz of modulation bandwidth per channel. It represents the next evolutionary step in the company’s X-Series signal generator lineup, delivering high-performance capabilities. It caters to the demanding requirements of dense wideband multichannel applications by offering multiple, individually intricate signals.
Advancements in wireless communications and radar technologies are pushing for broader frequency coverage and the adoption of intricate modulation techniques like Multiple-Input Multiple-Output(MIMO), beamforming, and multiplexing to optimise data throughput. The testing of these applications necessitates signal generation tools that can uphold modulation quality even with wider bandwidths. Meeting the demands for higher frequencies, expanded bandwidths, and complex modulation schemes typically leads network and design engineers to require more bench space for additional testing equipment and fixtures.
The new signal generator tackles this challenge by streamlining intricate setups, minimising external connections, and accommodating up to four channels within its compact 2U form factor. As the pioneer in signal generators with an integrated reflectometer, it ensures the delivery of highly precise signals to the device under test (DUT). It offers the following benefits:
- Streamlined Form Factor: Offers multichannel capabilities within a compact 2U design, reducing rack height requirements by up to 75%.
- Performance: Utilizes proprietary direct digital synthesis (DDS) digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) technology to deliver impressive bandwidth coverage of up to 960 MHz. It boasts industry-leading error vector magnitude (EVM) and adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) performance, minimising signal distortion.
- Testing: Incorporates an embedded reflectometer, ensuring signal precision while expediting testing processes and simplifying test configurations.
- Low Phase Noise: Generates exceptionally clean signals, facilitating high-resolution radar system designs and enabling high-throughput next-generation communication systems.
The vector signal generator offers dependable and reproducible outcomes and is optimal for various commercial and aerospace defence applications. Leveraging custom DAC application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), it employs direct digital synthesis (DDS) to provide exacting signals, thereby reducing distortion and aligning with the ever-evolving benchmarks for component and module design. The integrated reflectometer streamlines setup procedures by rectifying the device under test’s match, resulting in accelerated time-to-test.
Joe Rickert, Vice President and General Manager of the Keysight High-Frequency Measurements Center of Excellence, expressed, “The vector signal generator represents a significant leap forward in performance and user-friendliness for design and network engineers. As the first signal generator globally to integrate a reflectometer, the high-performance MXG ensures the delivery of robust, precise signals. When paired with the PathWave Signal Generation software, it is meticulously designed to serve as your ultimate signal generator, offering exceptional performance within an intuitively straightforward solution.”
